Buy Used

$11.99

Comment: Shipped next day from GA, United States. All products are inspected and playing quality guaranteed (excluding any digital content). Our friendly multilingual customer service team will be happy to resolve your queries.

Amazon's Frank Zappa Store

Music

Photos

Biography

Composer, guitarist, singer, and bandleader Frank Zappa was a singular musical figure during a performing and recording career that lasted from the 1960s to the '90s. His disparate influences included doo wop music and avant-garde classical music; although he led groups that could be called rock & roll bands for much of his career, he used them to create a hybrid style that bordered on ... Read more in Amazon's Frank Zappa Store

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

As previous reviews have made clear, Volume 3 of the "'Stage' series" is not for everybody. You have to be able to tolerate the in-jokes ("secret words" in Zappa-lingo) and the thin texture of the synthesizer-heavy 1984 band (which dominates the album). And you may find, as I did, that improvisationally the first disc is a total write-off. IMHO 1981-4 were not good years for Zappa's guitar playing - and while, fortunately, there's not a lot from the '81-2 tour where he tended to make ugly noises for no reason at all, the 1984 solos sound to me like haphazard noodling.But on the first disc, you get the unassailable `Drowning Witch', a bit of rock 'n roll fun called `Ride My Face to Chicago', the infectious nonsense of `Chana in de Bushwop' (with a good keyboard solo from Bobby Martin and a funny one from Zappa and Zavod), and the marvellous `Carol You Fool' - a doowop song about a girl who'd been stalking the sound engineer, which reminds us that when they weren't joking around these 1984 guys could REALLY sing! (Especially Ray, in the difficult middle-eight)The second disc, and especially the 24-minute `King Kong', is the real reason for buying. The original and best version of `Dickie's...' - even though purchasers of the `Stage sampler' album will know that a few lines have been inexplicably edited out, and the song remixed (poorly).Terry's unique way of constructing a drum solo, leads us to the original (and best?) arrangement of `Zoot Allures'. But it edits to 1982 for the solo - damn! To get an idea of what the 1976 solos were like, consult `FZ:OZ' or, better still, `FZ Plays The Music Of FZ'From the riot show we have the fabulous `Nig Biz' - Ray White singing like a good'un and, better yet, leading off the solo sequence.Read more ›

Although I know and understand the premise of this series of discs, and have heard a couple of them, I am generally not familiar with the details of the performances. I have never listened to this volume in the series, but my conception of Zappa's work is heavily influenced by the Best Band recordings. In some ways, YCDTOSA 3 feels like home.

These recordings have also been a source of interest in they way that they are structured. Zappa himself states that the live material contains "ABSOLUTELY NO OVER-DUBS", but there is some editing together of separate performances. In some instances, like Zoot Allures and King Kong on disc 2, a single "performance" contains entirely different bands. Now on one hand, it is a testament to both the consistency of Zappa's preparations and his deft hand in the studio. In these cases, one must listen very closely for the seams. The casual listener would probably not even notice them. In the end, Zappa can look at his best performances and create what he might consider a live show that most closely captures his intention. On the other hand, it begs the question of "ABSOLUTELY NO OVER DUBS....". Technically, there are no overdubs, but there is definitely some studio trickery going on. However, we have stated that Zappa conceived of the studio as an instrument in and of itself, and these recordings most definitely show his mastery of the medium.

In the liner notes, Zappa also gives eight criteria for the selecting songs for this series, and number six is whether a given recording has "Conceptual Continuity Clues". I have had an interest in familiarizing myself with this feature of Zappa's repertoire, but as I am becoming more familiar with them, it is getting more difficult to tease out the threads.Read more ›

To put it up front, this is my least favorite of the You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore series. Most of this volume is dominated by the 1984 band, generally considered by fans, myself included, as one of Zappa's worst tours. With Ike Willis, Ray White, and Bob Harris on board, this tour is pretty much dedicated to exercising vocal muscle. The band was stripped down, a lot of things (like percussion) taken over by synthesizers, rhythm was dumbed down in the material to be more conductive to the heavy guitar playing and vocals, and the tempos were sped up. This probably explains why this sounds like a "song" tour, so to speak, with an abbreviated, poppish sound. In addition, the tour relied heavily on FZ's guitar playing, which would normally be an excellent attribute. Unfortunately, this just wasn't FZ's best guitar year, as is evidenced by the disappointing Guitar album. A lot of these solos sound overwrought and uninspired. They hardly have that beautiful tinge of bold originality and technical experimentation that makes FZ usually so great to listen to.The first disc is entirely devoted to the '84 tour. SHARLEENA features a 15 year old Dweezil joining his father on stage for the first time, and soloing with him. While Dweezil's playing is impressive considering that he'd only been playing for 2 years, it sounds hopelessly Van Halenish. This track is more interesting as a documentary of a charming father/son moment. BAMBOOZLED BY LOVE is so rhythmically stripped that it clocks into "Owner of a Lonely Heart" at one point. LUCILLE HAS MESSED MY MIND UP has a charming calypsoish feel. ADVANCE ROMANCE is one of my favorite FZ songs, but this is the worst version of it.Read more ›